Big Brother 16: Casting Updates For 2014 Season — Apply Now or Head to Open Call!

UPDATE: The Big Brother Season 16 casting website now has open calls listed, and casting director Robyn Kass said more will be posted mid-March. However, she added, “REMEMBER! U do NOT need to attend an open call to audition for #BB16. U can always apply on line! http://Www.bigbrothercasting.tv.” That site now lists open calls in Henderson, Nevada and Savannah, Georgia, but both are for this weekend (Feb. 21-23). Stay tuned for more open calls or just head to the website to apply. The submission deadline is April 4.

Original story:

It’s been four months since Big Brother 15 ended its dramafest with The Ginger Professor taking home a big (and controversial) win. At the same time, Big Brother was renewed for Season 16, with the summer 2014 season initially rumored to be another All Stars season.

Still no idea if that’s the case, but casting director Robyn Kass did tweet an update on January 22: “#BB16 casting info coming beginning of March. #staytuned." A fan asked if they’ll be in Staten Island again, and she replied, “info in MARCH. :)” Another fan asked, “can I apply as a 20 year old if I turn 21 before the season starts?” She answered, “yes. If you're 21 before July.”

Last season's cast was revealed on June 20 and the 16 houseguests started their journey to a series of apologies on June 26. The BB14 cast was revealed in early July and BB13 was announced in late June. So we’re expecting the Big Brother 16 cast to be released in late June or July, with the March info probably just listing casting calls and other details.

Back in September 2013, Examiner asked Robyn about the rumor that next season is All Stars.

“I love how these rumors get started,” she answered, “because I will tell you the last thing on anyone’s mind right now is next season. It’s all about getting through this season and not one word has been mentioned at all from production or network regarding next season. None of us [probably will even] think about next season until next year. Wherever those crazy rumors come from, there [is] no truth to that! And I’m not saying that it will or won’t happen, it just hasn’t been talked about. So those rumors would all be false!"

That was then. We’ll have to see if BB16 includes any returning players or if it follows BB15’s lead of going with unknowns. BB7 was All Stars season, and BB13 and BB14 both featured multiple returnees.

In they do cast for more newbies, Robyn told Examiner she and the casting team look for that “it” factor.

"It could be anything,” she explained. “It could be the way someone talks, the way someone laughs, the inflection in their voice, their story telling, [or] their enthusiasm. Maybe it’s the way they bug me, maybe it’s the way I want to hang-out with them. It has to do with people who you don’t forget. [...]. Sometimes [casting producers] will come in, and we’re fighting for 10 minutes. ‘I like them, I didn’t like them!’ It’s like, ‘we just spent 10 minutes talking about this person, clearly there’s something about them that’s making us want to talk.’ That is the ‘it’ factor – good, bad, funny, crazy, wild, [and] opinionated. It’s anything that makes them standout amongst all the other people.”

That may have been half the problem with last season’s cast — people standing out in a bad — but that’s probably not going to change.

CBS President of Entertainment Nina Tassler recently talked about Big Brother casting at the 2014 TCA press tour. "I sit in those auditions," she said (via Zap2it). "You're talking to people and you get one perspective on their personality. You ask probing questions and you develop an opinion about that person. You do the requisite background checks on everybody ... but it's not a science. You go into a season hoping you picked the right people. How someone comes off in a one-on-one interview ... sometimes the way they behave in the context of that room is very, very different [from what you see on the show]."

It's one big social experiment, and it's happening again this summer. Are you curious to hear more BB16 casting details in early March? Would you consider auditioning for the show? If you want in, check out Robyn's casting tips in the video below.